Tobacco stick



Jan. 13, 1925. 1,522,489

D. D. BOLEN ET AL TOBACCO STICK Filed Nov. 13, 1923 v "can? PatentedJan. 13, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID D. BOLEN AND HERBERT VAN KE'UREN, 015 FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA.

TOBACCO STICK.

Application filed November 13, 1923. Serial No. 674,525.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DAVID D. 130mm and HERBERT VAN KEUREN, citizens ofthe United States, residing. at Florence, in the county of Florence andState ofv South Carolina, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Tobacco Sticks, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in tobacco sticks, and has for itsparticular object to provide a device of this character which willfacilitate the fastening of the tobacco leaves in place, therebyoffering the possibility of reducing the time now consumed in this phaseof tobacco curing.

Heretofore numerous types of tobacco sticks have been employed, all ofwhich required some time for fastening the tobacco leaves upon the stickprevious to the placing of the leaves in the drying house. In fact, inthis particular art, a tobacco growers production capacity has, in mostinstances, been limited by his inability to handle the tobacco after thesame has been out. In other words, owing to the difiiculty of obtainingsufficient labor, he has found it impossible to employ sufiicient helpto prepare and handle the tobacco in the drying season.

In practice the tobacco leaves, after they have been out, are attachedone way or another to tobacco sticks, the leaves being suspendedtherefrom, and then hung in the drying house whereupon they are cured.The labor and time incident to the attachment of these leaves to thetobacco sticks has been a serious handicap to the tobacco growers, andhas been one of the most important items of expense.

It is therefore the particular object of our invention to provide atobacco stick which may be easily and quickly manufactured at a minimumcost, and which will offer the possibility of quickly and easilyfastening the tobacco leaves thereto, whereupon the time normallyconsumed in this operation will be so materially reduced as to make thesame negligible.

Another object of our invention is to provide a tobacco stick to whichthe leaves may be securely attached without liability of the samebecoming disconnected, even after shrinkage takes place in the curingstage of the tobacco. Our invention furthermore offers the possibilityof securely holding the leaves and at the same time minimizing theamount of metal in contact with the leaves, thus insuring a satisfactoryand perfect curing of the stems.

\Vith the above and other objects in view, our invention consists in thenovel combination, construction and arrangements of parts, all of whichwill be made more apparent hereinafter as this description proceeds,especially when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein;

Figure l is a side elevation of a tobacco stick constructed inaccordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary end view of the stick, partly insection;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken substantially on the planeindicated by the line H in Fig. 3; and,

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the stick.

Referring now particularly to the drawings, it will be noted that thestick consists of a pair of complementary sections, 10 and 11,preferably hinged together as at 12, whereby they may be swung open,thus exposing the normally adjacent faces thereof, for a purpose to belater referred to. Secured to the free ends of the stick sections, 10and 11, is a securing means for holding the sections in closed position,this fastening means consisting preferably of a spring latch member 13,secured to one of the stick sections by means of fastening means 14, andengaging a fastening stud 15 projecting from the other stick section.For guiding the spring fastening member 13 into engagement with thefastening stud 15, when the stick sections are swung together, weprovide a groove 16 in the end of the stick sect-ion 11, which slidinglyguides the spring latch 13 into engagement with the fastening stud 15.

The adjacent faces of the two stick sections are each provided with aplurality of spaced recesses 17 separated by projections 18, theseprojections and recesses being so arranged upon the opposed faces of thestick sections that the projections on one stick section lie adjacent tothe recess on the other stick section as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2.

Projecting outwardly from each recess is a plurality of spikes or prongs19, these spikes being inclined slightly in an upward direction so thatliability of disengageranged in "each recess, particular care neednot"bee'xercised=-in order to insure the engagement ofthe'tobacco stemwith atleast one or more of the pins. In practice severalle'aves" willbe suspended" from=the set of jpii isfl arranged in each recess, {thelength of the pins and the diameter of the recess being so dimensionedas to properly accommodate fixed number of leaves.

After the stickhas been filled with leaves, the sections thereof arebrought together fastened by means of the fastening means arranged atthe free ends thereof, whereupon the pins, now having tobacco leavessus'pended thereon, are brought up into engagement with. thecorresponding projection'o'n the opposed stick section, whereuponj adisengagement" of the tobacco leaves from; the stick is prevented; It isthen the practice to. hang. the tobacco by resting the tobacco stickonthe tier poles or supports T of the drying house.

Owing to the fact that the ends of the pins orspikes' 1 9 engage theopposed proj'ections' 1'8, liability of the tobacco leavesbecoming-disengaged because of shrinkage during the drying, iseliminated;

It will benoted that inasmuch as both of the sticks are preferablyformed of wood, that the only metal in engagement with the leaves orstems is the pins 19, which in itself is quite advantageous, as thecuring of the tobacco is thereby unalfected.

Owing to the co-operation between the pins and projections, the tobaccomay be securelyretained in place wit-h a minimum number of pins.Furthermor by providing the plurality of spaced recesses, thepositioning of the leaves upon the stick is facilitated because of thefact that they maybe easily aligned and distributed, 0W- ing to the factthat the width of the recesses is only slightly greater than thecustomary maximum width of the tobacco stem From the foregoing, it willtherefore be apparent'that we have produced. a tobacco stick "which :isextremely simple in constructions may be resortedto. Without departing.

from the spirit of the invention,.and there fore reservation is made tomake such changes in :the details of construction and,

combination of parts as may come within the purview of" the accompanyingclaims.

Having thus described our invention What we claim is:

.1. A tobacco stick comprising a pair. of bars hinged together atoneend, releasable fastening means for securing the other ends of: saidbars: together, the opposing faces of said bars being formed with aplurality of recesses and. projections and a plurality of pins extendingupwardly; from saidrecesses.

2. A tobacco leaf" curing stickcomprising a pair of: bars hingedtogether at one end, releasable catch forsecuring the free ends of saidbars together, the opposed faces of said bars beingeach provided with aplurality of :recesses separated by a pluralityv of projections and a:plurality of tobacco leaf securing. spikes extending. upwardly from eachrecess, the ends of said spikes normally. engaging. an opposedprojection on the opposite bar.

A tobacco leaf curing stick comprising a pair of bars, means hingedlyconnecting,

said barsat one end, a releasable spring catch for securing the barstogether at the other endthereof,'each bar being formed with a pluralityof recesses separated by a plurality of projections,.theprojections andrecesses on said bars being? arranged on opposed faces of said barswith-the recesses of one bar arranged adjacent the projections on theother .bar and aplurality of tobacco stem engaging spikes projecting.

outwardly from each recess with the ends thereof engaging the opposedprojection when the barsare in closed: position.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures.

DAVID 113. BOLEN. HERBERT VAN KEUREN.

